Mommy When You Laugh Poem by Burkina Faso

Mommy, when you laugh
everything seems okay
I want to hug you close enough
to smell your smell of rosy flesh

Your freckles really show
And my eyes glaze with toasty tears
Oh mommy,
When you laugh

When you don't laugh
And we yell and scream
My body is an empty shell
The world around a concrete wall
Life is slow and heavy

I remember that time, mommy
When I didn’t want to go to school
I clung to your long skirt and
Let it fill with water
As I cried and thought
I’d never see you,
Never hear your laugh again

Now, the tears on my face dry
Taut and sticky on my cheeks
You come over and hold me in your arms
And laugh away all our problems
That’s the way it is
Mommy, when you laugh